Three-year follow-up of palatal implants for the treatment of snoring

Abstract

Conclusions: The safety of treatment with palatal implants remains high 3 years after the procedure. The implant extrusion rate decreases over time. Additional surgery to the palate is safe. The presence of the implants seems important in sustaining efficacy past 1 year. Objectives: To investigate long-term safety and treatment results of palatal implants for treatment of snoring. Methods: A prospective clinical non-randomized trial of 55 patients with primary snoring followed over a period of 3 years. Results: No major adverse events were observed. Eleven of the 55 patients (20%) experienced implant extrusions, 8 during the first year, 3 in the second, and none in the third year. Twenty-six patients (47.3%) had additional procedures past 1 year. Only one post-implant surgery caused an extrusion. The success defined as no additional surgery followed by endpoint satisfaction rate was 34.6%. For patients with implants intact it was 41.5% (17/41) at 3 years, significantly better than for those who experienced loss of implants.

Keywords::

• Implant extrusion
• safety
• scar tissue
• fibrotic encapsulation
• palatal flutter

Acknowledgment

The cost of this research was supported by a grant from Medtronic.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.